Clash of the Clubs IV
Meet the Teams: Rieti26

6 September 2025

Club Profile

• The team competing at the Clash of the Clubs in Leiria as Rieti26 is a rebrand of one of Italy’s top athletics clubs, Studentesca Andrea Milardi, that is intended to celebrate and promote the staging of next year’s European Athletics U18 Championship in the club’s home city of Rieti.

• Founded in 1975 with a mission to serve young people through sport and especially strong links to the scholastic world, the club’s original name Atletica Studentesca Rieti was changed to honour founder Andrea Milardi, who passed away in 2016.

• Athletes from the club have amassed nearly 1,100 Italian championship medals and more than 100 of them have gone on to compete in the blue jersey of the Italian national team.

• Top level stars who have developed at the club include Roberta Bruni, 11 times national champion and national record holder in the pole vault, and Mattia Fulani, the 2025 World indoor gold medallist in the long jump who also won the event at the European U18 (2022) and U20 (2023) championships.

• Website: studentescamilardi.it

• Instagram: instagram.com/studentesca_milardi

DNA History

• Studentesca Andrea Milardi has been among the strongest supporters of the DNA U20 Clubs, having been present at every edition of the Clash of the Clubs. It placed 4th in the A final in 2023 and was part of special combined club teams from the Lazio region that placed second in the B finals in both 2022 and 2024.

• According to Technical Director Alberto Milardi taking part in the Clash of the Clubs again in 2025 is a “great way for our young athletes to cap off celebrations of the 50th anniversary of our club’s founding.”

Athletes to Watch

• Diego Mancini (instagram.com/diego_mancini348), 17, competed in the European U20 Championships in Tampere in the 400m hurdles, for which he is the national U18 record holder at 51.14, and as a member of the Italian 4x400m team, which took home the bronze medal.

• Nineteen year-old Virgina Capasso (instagram.com/virginiacapasso) is also a 400m hurdles specialist who competed in Tampere. Her personal best time is 59.94 and she has recorded a wind-aided 100m time of 11.79.

• 400m/800m star Francesco De Santis (instagram.com/francescodesantis.laltro) has personal bests of 46.25 and 1:49.89, both set this year. He competed in the European Athletics U20 Championships and last year’s World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru.